Debriefing a Climb (or Ski)

Debriefing a complicated climbing day can be one of the best ways to learn and strengthen your climbing partnerships. This is something I adopted from the guide-training process I went through back in the 1990s. At Alpine Mentors, we debriefed every day of climbing, and all came away with a feeling that this process was the most valuable part of the Alpine Mentors experience—the place where the real learning happened.

Here are two tools to help you, first a video and then a printable checklist so you and your partners can conduct your own debriefs.

Here is the video, “Alpine Principles: Reflection and Debrief.” Scroll down for the checklist.